Pentaclethra.] xlvii. § mimose^: (oliver). 323 



scurfy, eglandular; pinnae opposite or subopposite in about 10-13 

 pairs ; leaflets 14-18-jugate, obliquely oblong, obtuse, entire or emar- 

 ginate, somewhat rigid, at length glabrous, shining above, oblique, mid- 

 rib and venation prominent beneath ; f-l| in. long, o-5 lines broad, 

 sessile. Stipules subulate, deciduous. Spikes long, narrow, inter- 

 rupted or rather dense, solitary or in pairs from leafless nodes, pani- 

 cled towards the extremities. Flowers " yellowish," sessile. Calyx- 

 lobes broadly rotundate. Petals elliptic-oblong, spreading. Stamens 

 and 10 or 15 filiform staminodia slightly thickened above, much exserted. 

 Legumes 20-25 in. long, 3J-4 in. broad, narrowed to the base ; valves 

 thick and woody, at length becoming strongly revolute when dry; 

 Seeds much compressed, various in circumscription, 2-2J in. long, 

 1-2 in. broad ; testa crustaceous, shining. 



Upper Guinea. Senegambia, Heudelot! Fernando Po, T. Vogel! Barter! 

 Camaroons river, Mann! Island of St. Thomas, Mann. Gaboon river, Griffon du 

 Bellay. Princes Island, Dr. Welwitsch ! 



The legumes have been sent home under- the name of " Opochala" The seeds are 

 edible, and yield an oil. The remarkable hygroscopicity of the valves of the mature 

 legume I have described in detail in the " Transactions of the Linnaean Society," xxiv. 

 415. 



M. Baillon (Adans. vi. 206) indicates, under the name Pf Griffoniana, a plant 

 collected by M. Griffon du Bellay in the Gaboon country, of which he has not seen either 

 flower or fruit, but which, from the foliage, he takes to be a new Pentaclethra. It pre- 

 sents on the upper surface of the leaflets 1 or 2 small sessile concave glands. It is 

 called N'tchiumbou. 



2. PARKIA, R. Br. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, i. 588. 



Flowers pentamerous, capitate ; the upper flowers of the head her- 

 maphrodite, the lower staminate or neuter. Calyx tubular with a 

 shortly 5-lobed bilabiate limb, the two lower segments larger. Petals 

 narrowly linear-spathulate, confluent below with the stamens, valvate 

 or nearly so in aestivation. Stamens 10, exserted ; filaments adnate 

 below with the petals, and consolidated at length with the base of the 

 calyx-tube ; anthers linear or oblong, unappendaged, pollen cohering 

 in indefinite granular pollinia; staminodia 0. Ovary stipitate or 

 sessile, multiovulate ; style slender, with a minute terminal stigma. 

 Legume elongate (or oblong), compressed or subcylindrical, at length 

 2-valved, coriaceous or somewhat woody. Seeds compressed, involved 

 in fleshy at length dry and mealy pulp j testa coriaceous ; cotyledons 

 fleshy, radicle included ; albumen 0. — Large unarmed trees. Leaves 

 bipinnate, with very numerous leaflets. Flowers in dense globose or 

 clavate many-flowered pedunculate at length pendulous heads, red 

 or reddish brown, each subtended by a narrow bracteole, dilated at the 

 apex. 



The anthers of Parkia are described by inadvertence in the Genera Plantarum (1. c.) 

 as gland-appendaged. Mr. Bentham, however, in Hook. Journ. Bot. 1842, 328, pointed 

 out that they were not glandular. 



Leaflets 3-6 lines, 1-nerved, in 50-70 pairs, pinnae 14-30 pairs . . 1. P. biglobosa. 

 Leaflets 6-8 lines, subtriplinerved, in 25-35 pairs, pinnae 8-12 pairs 2. P. intermedia. 

 Leaflets 6-12 lines, tripliuerved, in 16-24 pairs, pinnae 6-9 pairs 3. P. filicoidea. 



